This invention relates to wheelchairs and more specifically to a wheelchair especially suitable for pediatric applications.
Many prenatal and/or perinatal injuries to the central nervous system, for example cerebral palsy, result in a disabled infant/child who cannot walk or crawl and who frequently cannot use the upper extremities in a normal fashion, thus resulting in impaired mobility. A child who is disabled due to cerebral palsy may, however, retain normal or superior intelligence. Speech may or may not be affected. Other diagnoses such as spina bifida, sacral agenesis, etc. may produce similar mobility problems. Disabled children who do not walk and/or crawl need early mobility to explore their environment, to interact with peers, and to perform other mobility related activities that are essential to normal development. This has been a relatively ignored area in the past, although the current opinion within expert circles is now realizing the importance of this issue.
Many disabled children do not have sufficient upper extremity function to propel a non-powered (manual) wheelchair, making an electrically-powered wheelchair an absolute necessity. Disabled children who do not walk frequently cannot sit independently without assistance either. They therefore require specialized seating devices to allow them to sit independently. A seating device for the disabled child must allow them to sit without the aid of either upper extremity, freeing the upper extremities for manual activities to the degree allowed by the child's neurological impairment. Seating for disabled children is highly specific to the individual child, can become quite complex and expensive, and frequently requires substantial expertise.
A powered mobility device for a child of impaired mobility must basically solve two problems. First, it must provide appropriate seating and control of posture and, second, it must provide a means of moving the seating system around the child's environment in a fashion that maximizes access to all objects and activities that would normally be available to a non-disabled child of that age. Various wheelchairs and other mobility devices are commercially available for children in the two-to-six year old age range. These devices are all adaptations of devices produced for other purposes or for adults/young patients. As such, they do not satisfy the functional requirements of mobility impaired children in the two-to-six year old age group.
Specifically, an optimal mobility device must allow a disabled child good access to the floor or ground with the hands, the primary play surface for children of this age.
Further, an optimal mobility device must allow a disabled child unimpeded access with the hands to vertical surfaces such as cabinets (to reach the handle) or furniture, for example a dresser (to pull out a drawer).
Further, an optimal mobility device must allow a disabled child to negotiate within spaces as small as 16-18 inches wide (for example between furniture) and allow a 360.degree. turn within an area as small as 20-24 inches.
Further, an optimal mobility device must not physically place a disabled child vertically and horizontally remote from peers of similar age and size, producing social and physical isolation.
Further, an optimal mobility device must be relatively small in size and light in weight so as to enable the device to be transported by relatively small people (for example single mothers) and must be small enough to be usable in small environments such as trailers and small enough to be readily loaded into and unloaded from relatively small motor vehicles.
As noted, the existing commercially available mobility devices do not satisfy these requirements.